Influencing our Past,
Present and Future

Roslyn and Leonard Stoler
make transformative gift that
will reshape UMMC campus

The generosity of Roslyn “Roz”
and Leonard “Len” Stoler runs
deep at the University of Maryland
Medical Center: from an outpatient
pavilion to a chemotherapy robot, the
Stolers have supported a vast range
of priorities over more than two
decades of charitable giving to the
medical center.

Their extraordinary dedication has
made an indelible mark on UMMC
history — and now, thanks to their
latest gift, it will have a profound
impact on the future.

The new $25 million naming gift
from Roz and Len Stoler — the largest
philanthropic commitment ever made
to UMMC and the University of
Maryland Medical System — will help
to fund a major expansion of the
University of Maryland Marlene and
Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive
Cancer Center. Scheduled to open in
2023, the expansive new facility will
place the entire cancer center on
contiguous floors, connecting to
existing areas in the north hospital.
Named for Roslyn and Leonard Stoler,
the new building will ensure that all
people who seek UMGCCC’s
advanced care are treated with the
most patient-centered approach.

“We knew immediately that this
was the kind of project that we
wanted to be a part of,” says Len.

Humble Beginnings

Long before Roz and Len were in a
position to give this landmark gift to
UMMC, they were a young married
couple struggling to make ends meet
in 1960s Baltimore.

“Roz and I were as poor as church mice,” Len says. “It was tough.”

Roz and Len were able to draw from
their strong work ethic, learned during
their respectively modest childhoods,
to begin to build a strong future for
their family. After working first as a
used car salesman and then as a
general manager of Maryland
Volkswagen, Len purchased a small
car dealership in 1968. He made the
business into a tremendous success,
leading to the purchase of another car
dealership — and then another.

With Len working nearly around the
clock, Roz recalls some evenings when
she and their two young children, Barry
and Harriet, would bring dinner down
to the car dealership so the family
could be together.

“We would go into Len’s office, and
the four of us would have dinner
together as a family,” she says.

Ultimately, what started in one 7,500
square-foot building with 22 employees
evolved into one of the nation’s largest
automobile dealership groups. Today,
the Len Stoler Automotive Group has 11
dealerships in Maryland and two in
New York, employing a total of more
than 400 people.

An Evolving Partnership

As their business became well
established throughout the region, Roz
and Len began to expand their focus to
include community investment as well.

“Helping people is what’s so
important to me,” says Roz. “It’s what’s
so important to us both.”

The Stolers’ commitment to helping
those in need grew even stronger in
the early 1990s, when their 4-year-old
granddaughter, Lindsay, was diagnosed
and successfully treated for cancer at
what was then University Hospital, now
UMMC. Roz and Len realized that even
when patients receive the highest
levels of comprehensive care, the
experience of cancer diagnosis and
treatment can have a tremendous
impact on families. The process can
involve months and possibly years
of consultations and appointments,
when the patient must endure what
can be very complex therapeutic
approaches at facilities that lack
the comforts of home. Roz and Len
wanted to improve this experience
for all involved.

“Our deepest wish is that we
can bring some light to people
who have less than we have,” Len
says. “People with cancer are
suffering physically and mentally,
and if we can help them in any way,
we’re satisfied.”

The couple saw their first
opportunity to help in 2002, following
a behind-the-scenes tour of UMGCCC
by their friend and center namesake,
Stewart Greenebaum. They were
extremely impressed by the expertise,
compassion, and friendliness they
found from all of the faculty and staff
who crossed their path.

“The staff genuinely cares for their
patients and you can see it all of the
time,” Len says.

Shortly after the tour, the Stolers
made their first major gift to UMMC,
supporting the construction of the
Roslyn and Leonard Stoler Pavilion —
a multidisciplinary outpatient treatment
facility at the heart of the cancer
center. Inside of the pavilion, the couple also invested in a Nutrition Center to
provide snacks to patients and families
as they wait for appointments.

In 2007, Roz and Len made another
significant investment that funded the
Center for Image Renewal, which
promotes personal wellbeing and
positive self-image for patients dealing
with the physical effects of cancer
treatment and other conditions.
The center provides an atmosphere
of supportive personal care to restore
and enhance appearance through
individualized consultations, custom services for skin, hair and body, and
other related personal services.

Over the next several years, Roz and
Len continued to invest in the cancer
center, purchasing advanced
equipment, including the Trilogy Linear
Accelerator, which combines the
capabilities of several external beam
radiation technologies in one state-ofthe-
art machine, and the Apoteca
Chemotherapy Robot, which prepares
drug doses three times faster than a
pharmacist or technician. They named
the latter the “Lindsay Robot” in honor
of their granddaughter.

“We truly believe in the
leadership of Dr. Mohan Suntha
and Dr. Kevin Cullen, as well as all of
the extraordinary faculty and staff
at the cancer center,” Len says. “It is
just an amazing group of people
who all have a willingness to serve
and care for their patients.”

The Next Phase in Cancer Care

The Stolers’ historic $25 million
gift for an expanded, cutting-edge
building will enable UMGCCC to
provide the most technologically
advanced and integrated care to
cancer patients.

“Do you know how many times
Len and I look at each other and
say, ‘Can you believe we’re doing
this? Isn’t it wonderful?’” Roz says.

The new building will help
cancer center experts meet the
escalating demand for treatment well
into the future.

“We’re growing very, very rapidly,
and it’s really been the success of
what we do here in providing
multi-disciplinary care, access to
cutting-edge clinical trials, and stateof-
the-art therapies that has expanded
our ability to serve patients,” says
Kevin J. Cullen, MD, the Marlene and
Stewart Greenebaum Distinguished
Professor in Oncology at the University
of Maryland School of Medicine and
Director of UMGCCC. “The Stolers’ gift
ensures that we will have a facility that
enables us to provide care in as patientcentered
a manner as possible.”

To make a gift in support of the Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, please click here.